February 17, 2005

Funky Delicacies

As I may have mentioned one time over at Home of the Groove, I’ve had issues with the way the Tuff City (Funky Delicacies and Night Train labels) people have handled some of their reissues of rare New Orleans r&b and funk. My gripes were mainly with their earlier releases: poor vinyl source material, poor quality transfers to digital, shoddy packaging (like missing CDs or missing tracks), no useful notes on the music, players, labels, songwriters, etc. I must say that lately some of those problems appear to have been lessened. Their more recent compilations are better sourced (usually tape or, at least, good quality vinyl) and produced, although they are still lacking in the documentation department (guys, take a look at what Jazzman is doing – and just DO IT).

That said, without exhaustive (and probably expensive) record diving in the bins or on-line, you would be hard put to come up with many of the obscure sides that this outfit brings to light. So, if you want to hear what else was going on in New Orleans from the late 1950’s through the 1970’s besides what Allen Toussaint was producing, the Night Train and Funky Delicacies New Orleans CDs are vital. Under better circumstances, many of these artists could have been contenders.

I’m going to throw some recommended titles and a few comments at you just from the Funky Delicacies pile. An * means the audio source quality is fair to poor. Otherwise, the audio is OK.



Po’k Bones & Rice – Sam & The Soul Machine - As featured this week on HOTG.




The Hook & Sling– Eddie Bo and the Soul Finders + Eddie Bo’s Funky Funky New Orleans – Various Artists - Lots of obscure, quirky funk by the turbaned one and his cohorts, released mostly on his own labels in the early 1970’s.




Wasted* – The Gaturs – Willie Tee’s c.1970 funk band that went nowhere on its own but ended up backing the Wild Magnolias on record a few years later, making funk history.




Society Don’t Let Us Down* - The Barons – I love the Barons, crappy sounding audio, strange arrangements, bum notes and all. Mainly Wardell Quzergue and Ed Frank productions, these sessions were done on the cheap (and so was the CD!) and sound it. Their later stuff was crap; but many of their ‘60’s releases had the flava despite the flaws.




Wardell Quezergue’s Funky Funky New Orleans + Sixty Smokin’ Soul Senders* – Various Artists – “Funky Funky” is the better of the two, focusing on the late 1960’s to early 1970’s with fairly good sound. “Soul Senders” is a two CD comp, for serious geeks only, that could have been outrageous had more of the sides been better sourced. If nothing else, this collection gives a revealing glimpse into the large amount of pop r&b production work Quezergue was doing under the radar in the 1960’s. No hits here; but some very good misses.




Funk Funky New Orleans* + #2* + #3 (with #4 on the way) – Various Artists – A three CD series (so far) offering a mixed bag of obscurities. Audio quality on #3 is the best; but many tracks on the others rise above the low-fi muck to grab you.

Most of the above and more are available at amazon.com and at Louisiana Music Factory, hey, Tuff City sells ‘em online, too, or buy them at a local bricks and mortar establishment for an interesting change of pace encounter with a few other retrograde human beings. In particular, if you are ever in New Orleans, the Louisiana Music Factory’s two-story Decatur Street shop in the French Quarter (across from the House of Blues) is a great place to go for CDs, vinyl, DVDs, books, etc.

You will probably see me blogging further selections from these comps at HOTG, since nobody else seems to be doing it. If you have any of these CDs, or get any, let me know what you think.

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